The BRC has criticised the government for not doing enough to support the UK high street, after it proposed increasing retail business rates relief but not the threshold at which it would be available.
Speaking in Parliament yesterday the financial secretary to the treasury Jesse Norman MP said the government would look to increase the retail discount from one third to 50% for retail businesses occupying a property with a rateable value of less than £51,000 at the next Budget.
Norman also said the government would look to extend the relief to cinemas and music venues, and introduce an additional discount for pubs.
However, the British Retail Consortium has criticised the proposals for not increasing the £51,000-a-year rateable value threshold.
Property policy adviser at the BRC Dominic Curran said by not increasing the threshold, the proposal will do nothing to ease the suffering of large retail businesses, which employ the majority of retail workers.
Curran said: “While cuts and reliefs to business rates for smaller retailers are welcome, it is not enough to support the regeneration of our high streets. Larger retailers employ the majority of the country’s three million retail workers, and if business rates continue to rise then jobs and stores will continue to be lost.
“Larger retailers are already disproportionately affected by business rates yet will hardly feel the benefit of these reliefs. The government acknowledges the business rates system is broken and has pledged to reform it – the Budget offers an opportunity for action.”
The BRC’s call for action comes two days after data from the Centre for Retail Research found that 9,949 retail jobs have been shed in the first three weeks of 2020. In a separate report, the BRC said 57,000 retail jobs had been lost in 2019.
Chancellor of the exchequer Sajid Javid is set to publish the government’s Spring Budget on March 11.
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